SWEETLINE

5/03/2010

:: 3 main themes of blogging :: Moments from the Blogging For Business workshop @SocialBiz2010

We had a nice time at the SocialBiz conference in Petaluma last Friday. Aside from checking out the pretty town of Petaluma, we had the pleasure of meeting some very nice and interesting people that were mostly new to {and very excited about} about social media. Sweetline had the opportunity to present a workshop and a round-table discussion on Blogging for Business. We highlighted three main themes that we wanted to share with you. We also really enjoyed the discussion and thoughts from the groups and *loved* the inspiration that was happening. A few people shared that they were excited to get their blogs up and running and we are looking forward to seeing their work.

CULTURE :: Marketing

You are your biggest client so take time and pride in your own brand! Blogging is such an effective + free marketing tool for a business. It's a real chance to share a brand and company's culture, inspiration, style, interests, involvement, you name it with your community. It's all about relationships so connect and relate to your community. We suggest first defining your blog voice. We've talked about this a few times right here, here, and here. Pick the persona your company blog will be be and stay with it. We also suggest sharing your story. Why would I use your service vs another company that offers the same? Maybe I read a story on your blog that appealed to me about why you do what you do? Set yourself about and share what you are about.

COMMITMENT :: Time Management

Yea, there's no getting around this one - social media takes time. And a lot of it. But there are ways to create schedules to make your time most efficient. As we say, if you can make a cup of coffee in the morning, you can catch up on social media. There are applications and opportunities to schedule your blog posts and tweets - so use them! We have an editorial schedule that we keep so we don't struggle with "what to blog about?" (We talk more about this in our Social Media 101 guide for clients). For example, we do the Shine Online series every Friday and also have other categories we post under. We write a bunch and schedule them to go up on their correct day. We also do this with our tweets using HootSuite (another awesome free app) Schedule tweets that promote your blog posts and schedule them accordingly. Keep in mind that all of your social media tools share who you are but also direct people back to your website - your business.

CREATIVE :: Design

Presentation is super key these days. Your blog needs to look and feel good and relevant to your brand. Definitely consider the design and style of your blog, down to things like image borders, font size, font name, color, images (your pics need to look great!), layout (single-column? sidebars? anything is fine just make sure it works for the type of blog you are writing), using your own logo, making your own header, social bookmarking options, social media icon accessibility and more. (phew, we could go on and on - but you get the point) Make it look your best - it is your brand so take pride in it!

These are just a few highlights from the presentation. If you walk away with anything about blogging, it's about being authentic + real + sharing who you are behind your brand.